I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to extension cord apparatus adapted to carry hand tools as well as the electrical extension cord.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Electrical extension cords are well known. One example is a multi-strip outlet or terminal strip. A terminal strip typically includes a metal rectangular housing supporting several female electrical receptacles. Coupled electrically within the housing to the receptacles is one end of a length of electrical cord. The cord extends from the housing and terminates in a male plug member to be received in a wall socket for example. One such terminal strip is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,049,688.
A common desire with extension cords has been to provide a mechanism by which to support the extension cord electrical receptacles and also to carry the length of cord. Numerous such carrying devices have been developed and may be seen by way of example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,290,453; 3,733,478; 4,083,621; 4,095,871; 4,212,421; 4,282,954; 4,338,497; 4,353,613 and 4,731,029. A drawback to extension cord apparatus shown in those patents is that a handyman, do-it-yourselfer or construction trades worker may have difficulty reproducing such apparatus. That is, such apparatus generally require construction of a support or other mechanism not routinely available from a wide variety of sources. Another drawback is that in each of these patents the apparatus provided for supporting the extension cord and its outlets is not shown to provide structure by which a user of the cord might also transport a number of hand tools around the work site along with the extension cord receptacles. In the construction trades, for example, a workman would have to carry the extension cord apparatus to and around a work site and may also have to separately carry the many tools to be used at or around the job site. Carrying all of these separate items may complicate the job the workman has to do, may slow down performance on the job and could lead to tools being lost or misplaced.